Friday, April 30, 2010

I just got an advance copy of the new Paul Weller disc "Wake up The Nation". Upon first listen it sounds like any recent Weller disc, a few killer songs and more than a few duds. His last disc "22 Dreams", I thought was over-rated and all over the place (which I think was partly his intent). "Wake Up The Nation" continues this stylistic trend and has 16 tracks with a total time of just under 40 minutes. There are 4 tracks that clock in under 2 minutes and only 1 song ("Trees") that is over 4 minutes long. And "Trees" is about as good as the name suggests, which is to say it kind of sucks. Weller is again playing with Bruce Foxton (bass player from The Jam), I wish I could say this disc approaches anything they did in the Jam, but I can't. It sounds like he's trying for some of the quick hitting music (Jam-influenced, although it's all Weller anyway) he began reintroducing on "As Is Now" from 2005. But with the exception of 3 or 4 songs this is sort of a mess (best song imo is "Aim High" where he uses his falsetto on a soul track). I wish he would go back to making the soul inspired music he began on his self-titled first solo disc and continued with "Wild Wood", and stop with the constant experimentations, but he's a true artist and (I guess) follows his muse. Even when the muse leads him down roads marked "Warning: Danger Ahead". Below is the video of the title track.